Suns' Kevin Durant discusses Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's impact on his career, NBA

When most people think of San Antonio, they generally remember The Alamo, Tim Duncan, and his former San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

The Phoenix Suns play their final four regular season games this week, starting Tuesday at home against the Spurs.

The West's fourth-place Suns (43-35) enter Tuesday on a five-game win streak, including 3-0 since Kevin Durant's return from left ankle soreness that kept him out from their previous 10.

San Antonio is in rebuilding mode, having the NBA's third-worst record (20-58), and are out of the playoffs. Durant will play his first game against the Spurs as a Phoenix Sun on Tuesday.

In Durant's 16-year career, his 38 games played against the Spurs are his career's eighth-most in facing all 30 NBA teams, per StatMuse. He averages 25.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists against San Antonio.

"Regardless of who's on the floor, they play hard, they play together. They've been running the same system for the last 20 years and it's been effective for them," Durant told The Republic at the Suns' Tuesday shootaround about his career playing against the Spurs.

"They're looking to just disrupt at this time of the year. A team that has been up and down, well, just don't have a lot of wins on the season but they still go out there and play a solid brand every night. We look forward to another opponent to go out and get better through."

Popovich has been a vital part of the careers of countless elite NBA All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and the league's top coaches for the past 35 years.

In March, he was announced among the headliners of the 2023 Hall of Fame class. That includes Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Popovich's former Spurs point guard Tony Parker, and Popovich's former assistant and the WNBA's defending champion Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon.

Popovich's 26 years in San Antonio makes him the NBA's longest-tenured ever and he's the winningest in league history.

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He gave Suns coach Monty Williams his start in the coaching ranks. Williams, who played for Popovich from 1996 to 1998, began his post-retirement career start as a coaching staff intern in 2005 when the Spurs won the third of their five total titles, all under Popovich.

In addition to Suns backup center Jock Landale who played as a rookie for Popovich last season, Popovich and Durant's connection is from winning multiple gold medals together on Team USA. He coached Durant twice in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and five years later at the Tokyo Olympics, the latter in which Phoenix's Devin Booker was Durant's teammate.

"Even more of than the Team USA connection, working with so many people that worked in the Spurs organization throughout my time in the league," Durant said. "People behind the scenes and you hear stories about Pop and how he runs his show.

"Then I had an opportunity to play for him, you kind of get it now. His impact around basketball in general has been felt for decades and I'm grateful I got an opportunity to learn under him."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant discusses Gregg Popovich's impact on his career, NBA